Of Death and Beauty
by Open Casket Ceremony
Summary: You look so much prettier when you're dead, your blood blossoming across the ground like the blooming lotus you were before you died... HaoxRen, HoroxRen. Series of Oneshots, slightly sadistic. Told in multiple points of view.
1. Killer

Author's Note: Yeah...I know I'm on hiatus now, but the idea for this one-shot suddenly came to me. In case you can't tell, it's told in Hao's point of view, and for those of you who've only seen the anime, "Horokeu" is Horohoro's real name, an Ainu word which translates roughly into "wolf." In addition, the name "Ren" means lotus, as emphasized in the manga as well.

I also apologize that the setting and situation are both obscure, but that adds to the story, doesn't it?

And, I don't know if I will continue any other fics, because as of now, I'm too busy to make many new chapters. Thanks.

* * *

There are two of you in front of me. His name is Usui Horokeu, your name is Tao Ren. Names that seem fitting for divine beings, but yet, the irony that they are embodied by nothing more than two scrawny boys never ceases to amuse me. 

You are Tao Ren, and indeed, you are a lotus. You look beautiful and you act strong, but I know better. Your sharp tongue and cold eyes cannot fool me, because I know, that with relative ease, I can pluck apart your soul and look as deeply as I please into each portion. Just as I know that it is ever so effortless to simply pluck the petals from an already wilting lotus flower, one by one, and then cast them back into the water and watch them float, struggling to stay aloft the current, before slowly, but surely, they drift soundlessly underwater and disappear.

And now, you are at my mercy.

I have already plucked your first petal.

Only your first petal. But yet, you are already begin to crumble, the look of despair is already readable in your eyes. You know it is hopeless for both you and your precious Ainu lover. You know that I will tear both of you to pieces, you know that I will consume your soul and leave you submerged in your fear to rot.

You aren't stupid. I know you know that fire can melt ice. Turn it into a whisper of liquid, then keep burning, and eventually, what's left of the water will whisper away into the air, evaporated by the strength of the flames.

Similar to the way I just killed your Ainu.

Your Ainu is gone, dead, no longer with you.

With that, five more petals are gone. You seem to have only one left, you're barely clinging on to it. Just one more left to snatch away and to destroy. I can tell because of the way your eyes widen, and the tears that fall from them. I can tell because of the desperate undertones in your voice, the way you scream his name, the way you're sobbing, the way your grief spills onto the parched earth along with his blood, the way you hold on to him as if you're afraid he will disappear if you aren't careful.

Your Ainu died begging with me. He died begging me to be satisfied with his death alone, pleading with me to allow you to live. He had reduced himself to that pitiful state in a last attempt to protect you, because he knew, with his power in comparison to mine, there was nothing else he could do to preserve that final remaining petal of yours.

I intend on giving him no such quarter or mercy.

Your last petal is now gone. I have taken it, and I have cruelly wrenched it away from you, torn it apart, crushed it into dust, and put it aside for me to keep, never to return back to you.

After all, you look so much prettier when you're dead, your blood spreading and blossoming across the ground like the blooming lotus flower that you were before you died.


	2. Beggar

Author's Note: Eh. Thanks to the insight of a reader, I came up with the idea of writing this oneshot in multiple viewpoints. And lo and behold, thus, we have a brief _series_ of oneshots in a small compilation. So, here's PV number two. Enjoy.

* * *

I knew it. 

I knew it would somehow come down to this.

Me, Hao…and Ren.

Why?

I know I'm bleeding to death, though I'd like to stay with Ren for just a little longer. Please, kami, please, just keep me alive for a few more minutes. I need to do just one more thing. One more thing is all I ask, and afterwards, I don't care what happens to me.

I'm asking him.

No, I'm begging him.

He can slit my throat, he can rip off my limbs, he can gouge out my eyes, he can tear me into pieces. He can do whatever he damn well pleases. I don't care. Just please. Please.

Please.

Not my lotus, not my love.

Not my Ren.

I'll die as a pathetic lowlife if it means that he'll make the promises I want him to. I'm begging him, I'm on the ground at his feet, I'm practically licking the dirt off his shoes, pleading with him. I'm begging with him to spare Ren's life. Hell, I've already lowered myself to this disgraceful state, but who gives a shit. I'm going to die anyway.

I know it.

If only he'll let Ren go free, if only he'll let Ren live. I'll die in shame, but at least I'll rest in peace knowing that he will be safe.

And he just smiles that sick, cunning, tricky smile of his. I want to scream and throttle him, choke him until he promises to not lay a single finger on my Tao. He shakes his head, and I think I'm going to vomit. Why? Why is this happening?

I feel tears falling onto by face and a pair of arms around me. Ren. He's sobbing and pleading for me not to leave him. Silly boy. Get out of here. Don't waste your time with a dead man. Please. Just run far, far, far away and never look back.

No.

Don't.

Please.

My vision is going blurry. I'm losing control.

I'm begging you.

I'll do anything. I'll give up my soul in what's left of this life _and_ the afterlife, if it will satisfy you and your sick ambitions.

Please, for god's sake, don't kill him.

Please.

Please.

Just let him live…

I never get to see the blow that kills him. I never get to see my Ren go down along with me, I never get to see anything else at all.

Because I'm already dead.


End file.
